Airshifting
by Renenet D
Summary: Air It was the only thing he could move without drawing their attention to himself. Even when ascended, Daniel was with them.


**Category:** Written as a response to the Elements Challenge (Air) on the Tok'ra Flats List; Gen; multiple POVs; angst, emotional h/c.  
**Spoilers:** nothing specific, but you have to be familliar with everything up to season 7 in order to really understand the story.  
**Summary:** Air - _It was the only thing he could move without drawing their attention to himself_.  
**Notes: **Big Thanks to my beta Karen! All mistakes still present are 100 mine!  
- Dedicated to Anne, with whom brainstorming about plots is always hillarious and extremely productive!  
Please, note the different ways of seperating the paragraphs - the longer lines of "o's" denote a shift to another character's POV.  
**Warnings:** Hanky Warning. Cannon Major Character Death.

**AIRSHIFTING**

It was the only thing he could move without drawing their attention to himself.

Shifting air.

Or _airshifting_, as he liked to call it.

Gentle and subtle enough to go under the radar. But noticable to those whose minds were open to the possibility of its existence. _His_ existence.

**ooooooooooooo**

If he were asked to describe the place he was in, he would probably call it _air_. Although, it had very little to do with real air. More like...space? Vacuum? Hmmm...

He still liked to think of himself as _someone_, rather than _it_. Air or no air.

**ooooooooooooo**

Dimensions didn't bother him. Up or down, back or forward, left or right, time... His airy world was of no definable substance, it just _was._ But his _former_ world needed time to function; so he has taught himself to recognize those tiny ripples in his air that were actually the echoes of that other world's existence in all of those four dimensions. It was a difficult thing to achieve, but once he learned how and what to listen for, he knew how to pick a moment...to drop in

**ooooooooooooo**

He had realized early on that his friends from his old world had mixed feelings about him being gone. Sometimes he would feel almost self-destructive anger, sometimes grief so fierce it would break his heart if he still had one. But the most interesting thing he felt from them was their non-belief that he still existed. It became his quest then, his challenge to himself, to try to make them _believe,_ in order to tame those disturbing emotions, and bring them peace.

**ooooooooooooo**

Of course his first quarry was Jack and, of course, it was in the place where many pleasant evenings had been spent, filled with friendship, quiet words and a soothing feeling of belonging.

So he closed his non-existent eyes, listened to the time-beat and _moved._

**ooooooooooooo****ooooooooooooo****ooooooooooooo**

He needed a new telescope. The one he had, had become too weak to battle light pollution.

Jack adjusted his position, trying to see a small, faint speck that was supposed to be a star, then he sighed with disgust and sat back in his chair. He really needed a new telescope if he wanted to see _anything_. But he couldn't get rid of this one. This one has sat on this roof for almost a decade now and was used by both him and...Daniel. There. He said his name. Not out loud, but he said it in his mind, and that was something. Progress, he thought. He didn't feel anger, or sorrow...just a dull feeling of nothingness, of standing still while the rest of the Universe moved.

He would come here, on the roof, to try to feel...something, anything. Lately, though, he was weary beyond words; felt so old and used up that the only thing that stopped him from-..., stopped him from using his gun and-...

Jack consciously exhaled one deep, cleansing breath and leaned forward in his seat, resting his slightly trembling arms on his knees.

That "only thing" was the gnawing feeling of not really knowing what happened to Daniel.

So, he had been waiting.

For what, Jack didn't know.

**ooooooooooooo**

Something pulled him out of his dark contemplation and made him look through the telescope again, moving it to catch that tiny flicker of light he was trying to see earlier. He blinked, checked the the instrument with a disbelieving once-over, then took a peek again.

There was his star, shining brightly and merrily in the centre of his field of vision, almost like it was trying to tell him something.

Holding his breath, he remembered that old, clichéd saying.

"Wish upon a star...", he murmured, trying not to blink or he might miss it, miss-

A strong breeze of warm air washed over him, ruffling his hair and clothes, swirling round him like a vortex, then dissipating as quickly as it came.

The star flickered brightly once more, then dimmed to its original, normal size.

Finally, after several months' worth of waiting, Jack smiled.

**ooooooooooooo****ooooooooooooo****ooooooooooooo**

She was having that dream again.

The one in which she was walking down a forest path and from behind every giant tree an enemy would lurk, laughing at her, taunting and threatening her... Humans, monsters, aliens,...

They would never touch her, never harm her, but she got such a feeling of dread that she'd wake up shivering and gasping for breath.

This time, though, just as she started running down the path in fear, a friendly, familiar face appeared from behind the last tree just before she woke up.

Daniel.

His extended arm brought her to a halt, and she took his hand. Not even thinking about the radiation, or death, or ghosts, because, after all, he was _Daniel _and he was _here_.

Even if it was only a dream.

It contradicted all of the science she knew. It was exhillarating, uplifting, amazingly relaxing and, above all, safe.

She felt safe, loved and if she closed her eyes to the bright shimmering air, she could almost feel his arms around her.

She didn't want to make him sad.

But she _so_ needed to cry.

**ooooooooooooo**

Sam woke up slowly, desoriented but strangely calm.

She streched lazily in her bed, glancing towards the shut door.

A movement on her left caught her eye.

The long curtains were gracefully dancing in the wind.

All the windows were closed, though.

**ooooooooooooo**

For a long time, Sam was laying in bed, thinking about friendships, family and some things that science would probably never manage to explain.

**ooooooooooooo****ooooooooooooo****ooooooooooooo**

Some of the candles were large and thick, some were long and very thin. They were everywhere - on the floor, on the table, all over the narrow shelves built especially for them. Their light was yellowish, flickering, both soothing and eerie.

The light was strong enough to let Teal'c read a book.

He has learned a lot in the last six years - new languages, new customs. To him personally, the most important have been all the little things: enjoying many flavours of chocolate, discovering the wonders of television, socializing with friends on weekends...learning how to relax with a good book.

He was currently immersed in the compiled works of Walt Whitman, laying back comfortably against many pillows, his eyes slowly, carefully studying the words.

His on-base quaters were so heavily isolated that the silence was complete, not counting the occasional sound of claxons.

Teal'c has lift his eyes just long enough to cast a glance to the other side of the room and turned back to his reading just as quickly.

Sometimes, when alone and in the quiet of his home, he would think of many pleasant hours spent there with DanielJackson either in interesting talk, playing ancient games, discussing inane things like favourite movies or just meditating.

Sometimes, his heart would get heavy when reminiscing about his young friend.

Like now.

Teal'c settled back more comfortably, adjusting his grip on the book.

Junior felt...jittery. So did he, for reasons unknown.

All of a sudden the room was swept in darkness, the candles dying out like dominos, one by one.

A strange, almost-silent sound of _whooshing_ wind came apparently from nowhere.

Teal'c felt the pages of the book fluttering in the wind and heard the rustling sound.

The moment his book _settled_, a candle right in front of him, the big, thick one, lit up on its own to a blindingly bright flame that had lasted a couple of seconds, then turned back to its normal intensity.

With it, there was enough light to be able to read.

Teal'c glanced down and his gaze settled on a newly turned page.

"_O You Whom I Often and Silently Come" by Walt Whitman_

His finger tracing the letters, Teal'c focused on the lines and started reading, a smile - one more thing he has learned how-to-do in recent times - slowly spreading across his face.

"_O you whom I often and silently come where you are that I may be with you,_

_As I walk by your side or sit near, or remain in the same room with you,..."_

**ooooooooooooo****ooooooooooooo****ooooooooooooo**

Almost one Earth year later, after all that had happend, even _airshifting_ has became a threat to his own well-being. He was trying to be careful, but the Others have been more alert, more aware of him.

Daniel felt a change in the air. An _airshift_ coming closer, to _him_.

Thinking of all the good memories and warm moments his airshifting has brought, Daniel's invisible face smiled.

**THE END**


End file.
